Home>News Center>World
         
 

Muslim uproar spreads in Mohammed cartoon
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-04 09:22

Outrage over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad erupted in a swell of protests across the Muslim world Friday, with demonstrators demanding revenge against Denmark and death for those they accuse of defaming Islam's holiest figure.


Hundreds of Moroccan Muslims protest against the Danish and Swedish publications of Islam's Prophet Muhammad drawings, in front of the Parliament in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. The sign says in Arabic 'But which press freedom?, it's simply the soul's high degree of contempt'. [AP]
In Iraq, the leading Shiite cleric denounced the drawings first published in a Danish newspaper in September, one of which depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. But the cleric also suggested militant Muslims were partly to blame for distorting the image of Islam.

Some European newspapers reprinted the caricatures this week, prompting protests Friday in Britain, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Palestinian areas. In Sudan, some even urged al-Qaida terrorists to target Denmark.

"Strike, strike, Bin Laden," shouted some in a crowd of about 50,000 who filled a Khartoum square.

The U.S. and British governments criticized publication of the caricatures as offensive to Muslims, raising questions about whether the line between free speech and incitement had been crossed.

The Danish government tried to contain the damage. Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller called Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and said the Danish government "cannot accept an assault against Islam," according to Abbas' office.

On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his government could not apologize on behalf of a newspaper, but that he personally "never would have depicted Muhammad, Jesus or any other religious character in a way that could offend other people."

Many Muslims consider the Danish government's reaction inadequate.

Clerics in Palestinian areas called in Friday prayers for a boycott of Danish and European goods and the severing of diplomatic ties. Tens of thousands of incensed Muslims marched through Palestinian cities, burning the Danish flag and calling for vengeance.

"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, a tailor who marched in the pouring rain with hundreds of other Muslims in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," the protesters chanted.

Foreign diplomats, aid workers and journalists began pulling out of Palestinian areas Thursday because of kidnapping threats against some Europeans.

In Iraq, about 4,500 people protested in the southern city of Basra, burning the Danish flag. Some 600 worshippers stomped on Danish flags before burning them outside Baghdad's Abu Hanifa Mosque, Sunni Islam's holiest shrine in Iraq. Demonstrators also burned Danish journalists in effigy and torched boxes of Danish cheese.
Page: 12



Egypt maritime tragedy
Ben Bernanke sworn in as 14th Fed chairman
Saddam stands for trial
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Most of 1,400 on Egypt ferry feared lost

 

   
 

Outbound travelling jumps 50-fold in 20 years

 

   
 

US says risk of war with China diminishing

 

   
 

Muslim uproar spreads in Mohammed cartoon

 

   
 

FM maps out blueprint for EU-China ties

 

   
 

Survey: Education key to reducing crime

 

   
  Most of 1,400 on Egypt ferry feared lost
   
  US expels Venezuelan diplomat
   
  Iran threatens full-scale enrichment work
   
  Australian PM seeks apology from US senator on corruption claims
   
  Negroponte: Al-Qaida biggest terror threat
   
  Muslim anger unabated over prophet cartoons
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement